I was over at one of my dear friends house a few weeks ago for lunch and she let me know that we were going to be having a special treat for lunch: BBQ chicken wings! As a foodie, naturally, I was super excited! When I finally was able to sink my teeth into these wings, I almost cried. It was one of those experiences where you wonder where that certain food and flavor combination have been your entire life! It was THAT good. With every bite, it just kept getting better and better. I won’t even tell you how many I ate that day, because that would be embarrassing, but let’s just say, there were no leftovers!
When I asked my friend for the recipe, she let me know that these were actually another mutual friends famous chicken wings. I immediately contacted our friend and said “OMGosh…THOSE WINGS ARE AMAZING!” She laughed because I guess I’m not the first one to feel this way. And she agreed to share this life changing recipe on the blog, so you can all enjoy them too!
So first, let me introduce you to Genie.
Isn’t she gorgeous?! Now let’s move on to the wings. Take it away, Genie.
My all-time favourite food to eat and to make – chicken wings!
I don’t have a name for this recipe, but since it has become quite popular amongst my group of momma friends, I shall call it Mama Liu’s Chicken Wings!
The name is also fitting because my mom used to always make chicken wings for us when we were kids and it just brings back awesome memories.
Being Asian, like any other culture, there are ‘staple ingredients’ in the kitchen. Two main ones – soy sauce and sesame oil. I remember my mom making chicken wings and vaguely remember what she used to marinate it to taste so delicious. I decided one day I was going to re-create that flavour or at least something similar to it. You might not believe it, but I came upon this Mama Liu recipe all by trial and error. And if you really love chicken wings, you’ll want to try this!!
- 1-2 lbs of chicken wings*
- Sesame Oil – enough to coat all chicken wings without too much excess
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp pepper
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- PREP: In a mixing bowl, place chicken wings and add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix everything together well, making sure all the wings are covered in the spice as much as possible.
- Next, add sesame oil into the mix, mix well, again making sure every wing is coated well.
- MARINATE: Cover wings and place in refrigerator for 12-24 hours to marinate. The longer they have to marinate, the better! The wings will be bursting with flavor.
- BBQ: Now comes the cooking and this is the tricky part. The trick is to have the wings on the grill with the outer part of the wing facing up for the first 5-10 mins with the bbq lid on AND the heat set to MEDIUM (this will depend on how hot your BBQ is, so you will need to gauge this yourself).
- Around the 8-10 mins mark, open the BBQ and check on the wings, it should be time to flip them. The reason for place the wing so that the outer wing (crispy skin part) facing up for the first 5-10 mins, is so that it can cook through the thicker part of the wing first.
- After you have flipped them, turn the heat to low and time it to flip every 1-2 mins. The continual flipping ensures you’re still cooking the wing but not letting it sit too long on one side to have it burn. (I’ve had many, many burnt-to-the-point-of-no-return batches of wings and it is AWFUL to see it go to waste)
- Continue flipping the wings for roughly 15 minutes longer, making sure to keep a close eye on them so they do not burn.
- Once ready, remove from grill and enjoy right away!
- *I’m a chicken wing snob, and I only buy the ‘wingette’ or the middle part of the wing. This can be found at TNT grocery store or any local Asian grocery stores. I have yet to find any Canadian grocery stores that only sells the middle part of the wing. However when I do, that will be an awesome day!!
Well there you have it. Arguably one of the greatest chicken wings I have EVER HAD! Thank you so much Genie for sharing this with all of us! With BBQ season in full swing, why not pick up a pack of wings today and plan to make them this week. You will NOT be disappointed!
Love & Blessings,
